Monday, February 23, 2015 – edition no. 2255

Low awareness
of new noise law
local transgender
requests id gender change
The Prevention and Control
of Environmental Noise
Law came into effect
yesterday
The Rainbow of Macau
association is assisting a
resident in attempts to change
gender on the local ID card
P4
ferry
sinks in
bangladesh,
killing at
least 48
P5 MDT REPORT
P12
MON.23
Feb 2015
T. 18º/ 21º C
H. 80/ 99%
N.º 2255
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FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho
“ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ”
WORLD BRIEFS
THAILAND A Chilean
cyclist’s quest to bike
around the world in five
years has ended with his
death in a road accident
in northeast Thailand.
Police say the 47-year-old
Juan Francisco Guillermo
was hit by a pickup truck
and immediately killed
Saturday on a highway
in Nakhon Ratchasima
province. According to
police and accounts on
social media, Guillermo
was attempting to set a
Guinness World Record
by cycling 250,000km
in five continents in five
years. His journey started
in November 2010 and
was scheduled to end in
November this year.
Record number of visitors
flood borders during CNY
P2,3
YEMEN’s former president
has arrived in the southern
port city of Aden after
fleeing the capital where
Shiite rebels had been
holding him under house
arrest. Abed Rabbo
Mansour Hadi’s fall raises
fears that notoriously
volatile Yemen will
fracture into mini-states,
complicating American
efforts to combat alQaida’s powerful local
franchise, against whom
Hadi had been a strong
U.S. ally.
More on backpage
With articles republished from
New York
Fashion
Week The social
catwalk
F1
Mayweather and Pacquiao
set fight date for May 2
P12 BOXING
th Anniversary
澳聞
Additional restaurant charges
accepted during festive season
D
uring the first three to four days
of Chinese New Year, many
restaurants in Macau have chosen
to close their doors. And it is common for those who have opened for
business to charge patrons an extra
amount for service fees, which can
be as much as 30 percent of the original price.
Some residents told TDM that
they understood the decision to increase prices. “Having a 30-percent
extra charge is alright. But it wou-
ld be unacceptable if they charged
more [than that],” one of the interviewees said. Another claimed that
the additional charge is reasonable
because of the extra wages that employers must pay during the period. “Where does the money come
from? Of course, it comes from the
customers,” he said. One resident
believes that people should not dine
at restaurants if they cannot accept
additional fees.
However, some also said that they
42 cases of taxi irregularities
THE PUBLIC Security Police (PSP)
caught 42 taxis violating taxi regulations between February 17 and 20. The
authorities have urged taxi drivers not
to break the law. In those 42 prosecutions, 19 of them involved charging
excessive fares and 14 involved refusing fares. The PSP said that they have
a zero-tolerance policy regarding taxi
irregularities, and that the operation
against rule-breaching taxi drivers in
the CNY period has so far been successful. It also revealed that, between
January 1 and February 21, PSP has
prosecuted 1,131 cases of taxi irregularities, with 309 of them related to
the charging of excessive fares and 211
involving the refusal of fares.
Authorities speed up
temporary Home Return
Permit applications
L
OCAL residents who
have lost their Home Return Permit (Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong
and Macau residents) in
Zhuhai are now able to receive a temporary document
quicker than previously, according to an announcement
by the Public Security Police.
The figure from the mainland authorities showed that
there were more than 1,300
reports of missing Home Return Permits in 2014. As of
February 16, Macau residents who find that their permit
is missing are no longer required to report the incident
to the mainland Public Security Department. Instead,
they can go to the Chinese
Travel Service (CTS) at room
2115 of the Gongbei Port’s
departure lounge between 9
a.m. and 10.30 p.m., where
they can apply for a one-off
departure permit. The CTS
counter is open every day,
including holidays. This
change also applies to those
whose Home Return Permit
has expired.
The PSP reminded residents that if they lose their Macau Resident Identification
Card in the mainland, they
can still go to the border
checkpoints of Macau and
return to the SAR in as little
as 30 minutes upon having
their identity verified.
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do not dine out during CNY because
it is too crowded, and because people have to queue too long before
being served.
One restaurant manager said
that they had applied a 30-percent
extra charge on their customers
during the first three days of CNY
(February 19 and 21), which is higher than the usual rate, which lies
between 5 and 20 percent. However, she thought that customers
were glad that there were places
open during the period, and pointed out that their charges were still
cheaper compared to eating out at
other places.
As of February 13, the Civic and
Municipal Affairs Bureau had received notices from 155 restaurants
and food vending businesses about
price changes on their menus.
The bureau fined 62 restaurants
and food-vending businesses last
year for their failure to notify the
authority.
The Macau Government Tourist
Office also said that 168 out of more
than 300 restaurants have notified
the office of their decision to increase prices this year by between 5 and
20 percent. The office’s director,
Helena de Senna Fernandes, reminded restaurants that they must
give notice to the office if they choose to impose extra charges and fees
during holidays, or else they will
face a fine of up to MOP2,500. JPL
TOURISM
Over 1,000 parade
to celebrate Year
of the Goat
CARMO CORREIA/LUSA
MACAU
2
23.02.2015 mon
A
parade celebrating the
Year of the Goat was
held on Saturday with the
participation of 1,288 performers and 34 performing
groups.
Participants
marched
along Avenida Dr. Sun YatSen and finished up close
to the Macau Tower.
The theme of this year’s
parade is “Adorn the City
with Opulence and Joy”. A
total of 14 floats (many of
them belonging to gaming
operators) joined the festivities, along with 25 local
groups, and 9 performing
groups from the mainland;
Korea; Hong Kong; Italy;
Japan; Malaysia; Portugal;
Thailand and Taiwan.
Well-known Hong Kong
singer Miriam Yeung gave
a performance at the event,
while Hong Kong artist
Johnson Lee was the host of
the night, adding much joy
and festivity to the event.
The parade will be organized again for the tenth day
of Lunar New Year (Feb
28), but with a different
route. It will start in Rua
Norte do Patane at 8 p.m.
and pass through Avenida
do Conselheiro Borja and
adjourn at Iao Hon Market
Garden.
The 14 parade floats are
being showcased at Sai Van
Lake Square and Tap Seac
Square between February
21 and 28, and between
February 28 and March 8,
respectively.
ONE SHOT NEWS
A dragon dance was staged on the first day of Chinese Lunar New Year to celebrate the Year of Sheep
DIRECTOR AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF_Paulo Coutinho [email protected]
MANAGING EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa [email protected]
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela
CHINA & FOREIGN EDITOR_Vanessa Moore [email protected]
DESIGN EDITOR_João Jorge Magalhães [email protected] | NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano
Martins, António Espadinha Soares, Brook Yang, Catarina Pinto, Cyril Law, Emilie Tran, Grace Yu, Irene Sam, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny
Philips, João Pedro Lau, Joseph Cheung, Juliet Risdon, Keith Ip, Renato Marques (photographer), Richard Whitfield, Robert Carroll
(Hong Kong correspondent), Rodrigo de Matos (cartoonist), Ruan Du Toit Bester, Sandra Norte (designer), Sum Choi, Viviana Seguí
| ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTORS_JML Property, MacauHR, MdME Lawyers, PokerStars | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press,
Bloomberg, Lusa News Agency, MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua | SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected]
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mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
澳聞
MACAU
3
João Pedro Lau
T
HE Public Security Police (PSP) has revealed
that more than 1.72
million people crossed
the Macau border checkpoints
between February 18 and 22.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for
Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, does not think that
Macau is capable of accommodating more visitors, and will
discuss the possibility of restricting the amount of incoming
tourists with mainland authorities.
The authority believes that the
border crossing peak period lies
between February 21 and 25.
However, the total number of
passengers who traveled through the region’s borders from
February 19 to 22 has already
surpassed 1.45 million, a growth of more than 6 percent.
The Border Gate checkpoint
was once again the most popular passage for residents and
visitors.
A mainland visitor told TDM
yesterday that it took her almost two hours to cross the
border at Gongbei Port. However, the time required to cross
the border on the Macau side
was only several minutes. Another mainland visitor said that
since they were traveling with
an elderly person, they were
allowed to use a special passage at Gongbei and were able to
cross the checkpoint after only
waiting for 20 minutes.
With such a large visitor influx, PSP twice imposed the
first-level crowd control measure at San Ma Lo (Avenida de
Almeida Ribeiro) in the afternoons of Saturday and yesterday. There were also temporary
traffic reroutes implemented in
the vicinity of the Border Gate
and Praia Grande yesterday.
The crowded conditions have
affected the traveling mood of
some tourists. A visitor from
Guangdong, Ms Yang, said that
this is the first time she has traveled to Macau. She was hoping
to have a leisurely trip, but found Macau to be “super crowded”. She said that she would
not go to San Ma Lo again next
time. Another mainland visitor,
Mr Ding, said that the crowds
in San Ma Lo had been “tiring”
for him. He also found the district “boring,” because he could
do nothing but shop there.
Moreover, according to the
Record number of visitors, crowd
control measures implemented
The core
principle is that
our residents’
quality of life
should not be
worsened
ALEXIS TAM
Marine and Water Bureau, in
order to cater for the increase
in passengers who chose the sea
routes to enter or exit Macau,
ferry operators expanded their
service capacity by 35 percent
on Saturday.
The bureau’s director, Wong
Soi Man, said that after inspecting the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal and the Pac On
Temporary Ferry Terminal in
Taipa, the peak traveling period
for the ferry terminals would
be between yesterday and February 26.
Ms Wong said that they were
concerned about possible delays in upcoming days due to
foggy weather. She said that
the authorities will monitor
the situation closely. There are
also rescue vessels stationed
at the Inner Harbor and Outer
Harbor.
The huge tourist influx into
the city has been pointed out
by some as having negative impacts on the daily life of local
residents. During a New Year
event on Thursday, Secretary
Alexis Tam thanked mainland
visitors for their economic
contribution to Macau. However, he does not want the Individual Visit Scheme to affect
the locals, and he will discuss
with mainland authorities
ways that the Scheme could be
improved in the future, including the possibility of placing
restrictions on it.
“We have to make a scientific decision [regarding the
Individual Visit Scheme]. The
core principle is that our residents’ quality of life should
not be worsened… There are
many possible measures [to be
considered], and [restricting
the scheme] is one of them,”
he said.
Mr Tam added that there are
other methods “that are better.” He said that there will
be talks between the Macau
government and mainland
authorities, such as the State
Council, the National Tourism
Administration, as well as administrations of the provinces
to which the scheme applies.
He said that the common goal
of all parties is to improve the
lives of Macau residents, and
to allow more mainland visitors see Macau.
chinese new year visitors
Total
(Until 9 p.m.)
Inbound
(Until 9 p.m.)
Outbound
(Until 9 p.m.)
February 18
273,909
128,808
145,101
February 19
276,016
138,395
137,621
February 20
351,534
174,787
176,747
February 21
407,201
220,450
186,751
February 22
418,228
220,602
197,626
1,726,888
883,042
843,846
Date
Total
4
MACAU
Man caught
with over a
million worth
of drugs
The Judiciary Police has
detained a 49-year-old man
after he was found with 2,100
grams of heroin hidden in a
secret compartment in his
suitcase yesterday at the
Macau International Airport.
The drugs are estimated to
be worth around MOP1.7
million on the black market.
The authority said that they
were tipped off by foreign
law enforcement agencies,
which claimed that a crime
syndicate was looking for
individuals to traffic drugs.
The Judiciary Police found
the drugs at around midday
yesterday when checking the
luggage of the detained man,
who is a US passport holder
traveling to Macau from
Thailand. The man claimed
that he was a businessman
based in Kenya and that
he was approached by a
man who had asked him
to help traffic the drugs in
exchange for USD8,000.
The man began his journey
from Madagascar with the
narcotics in his suitcase and
was planning to deliver the
heroin to another man in
Zhuhai.
ad
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
澳聞
Noise law in effect, low
awareness of the legislation
T
HE Prevention and Control
of Environmental Noise Law
(the Noise Law) came into effect
yesterday. As of 4 p.m., the Public Security Police and the Environmental Protection Bureau
had received a total of 26 complaints and made two successful
prosecutions.
PSP figures show that the authority has issued advice in response to five of the 25 complaints
received. As for the rest of the objections, the authorities said that
they could not confirm the cases. They included situations in
which the complainants did not
show up when the PSP officers
arrived at the scene.
However, some residents told
TDM on Saturday that they had
no awareness of the implementation of the new legislation.
One resident pointed out that
he did not see any promotion or
advertisement of the new law.
Another resident complained
that she has always heard noise
from her neighbors because they
kept a pet dog. She was concerned with how stringently the au-
thorities would implement the
law. “The dog [belonging to my
neighbor] was always barking.
We do not know how to file a
complaint… Although there is
a law, who knows if [the authorities] would follow it through.
They might only ‘talk the talk’,”
she said.
Meanwhile, lawmaker Ho Ion
Sang has asked the Macau government to educate residents on
the law’s importance. “The regulation focuses on domestic noise
and the noise emitted from piled
drivers (…) The real focus of the
regulation is that residents have
to observe the law consciously.
The relevant authorities should
also step up in enforcing the law
and patrolling the community, as
well as putting more effort into
promoting the law and educating
the public,” he said.
As for the issues concerning
residents who lit firecrackers
on their balconies or who even
threw them onto the street, Mr
Ho said that there is already legislation to tackle these kinds of
issues.
On the other hand, the Public
Security Police (PSP) announced
that it intends to cooperate with
the Environmental Protection
Bureau in enforcing the law more
efficiently. The PSP also called on
residents to observe the law and
cooperate with the authorities.
PSP Intendant Chan Man Tak
said that they need to collaborate with the complainants.
After receiving a complaint regarding noise, the PSP officers
who arrive at a given scene will
stay for a period of time, even
if they do not hear any noise
when they first arrive. He said
that this will cause no inconvenience to residents, and can
effectively determine whether
they need to prosecute anyone
there who continues to make
excessive noise.
Intendant Chan also warned citizens not to make excessive noise during Chinese New Year, or
else they may be fined between
MOP1,000 and MOP2,000 if
successfully prosecuted. He welcomed residents to call 28573333
to file a complaint regarding noises if necessary, and said that
PSP officers will arrive at the location as soon as possible. JPL
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
澳聞
MACAU
5
Group supports transgender people
requesting ID gender change
João Pedro Lau
T
HE Rainbow of Macau
association will meet
with Identification Bureau (DSI) officials on
February 24 to discuss the issue
of changing gender on Macau’s
identification documents.
Anthony Lam, director-general of Rainbow of Macau, said
in a press conference yesterday
that one individual, known as
Avery, has finished gender reassignment surgery and wants to
contact the Macau authorities
in regard to changing the gender on her ID card. He said that
Rainbow of Macau has contacted
DSI and the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia
Chan, in representing Avery.
“Both the Secretary and DSI
have replied to ‘Rainbow’ and
said that they will pay high attention to the issue. We have arranged a meeting to take place on
February 24 to find a solution for
Avery,” he said.
Mr Lam said that the group
wants to progress Macau people’s understanding and educa-
“Avery” was at yesterday’s press conference and spoke behind a screen
tion regarding gender, and he
hopes that the Secretary and DSI
can provide assistance to Avery.
He said that there was no precedent for such a case in Macau
that could be referenced. He hopes that the case can progress
with rational communication between all parties.
Jason Chao, a member of the
association, said that there are
clear instructions in Hong Kong
and Portugal regarding the
change of gender on ID cards.
He pointed out that the United
Nations has previously called
on the Macau government to
legislate for the protection of
residents from discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, which
includes transgender identity.
He believes that the government
has the responsibility to protect
its residents through legislation, and to allow the change of
DSI said that
the information
on a Macau
ID card has to
be consistent
with the birth
certificate
ID information so that individuals will not be discriminated
against.
During the press conference,
Avery shared with the media her
experience in a local high school.
She said that she had suffered
from verbal abuse and violent
treatment at the hands of her
classmates and even teachers
when she was studying in a local
all-boys school. She has previously attempted suicide, and said
that the abuse and bullying were
major parts of the reason behind
that decision.
Avery has recently come back
to Macau from the United Kingdom, and found that it was not
easy to live and find jobs in the
region as a transgender.
In a response to the TDM, DSI
said that the information on a
Macau ID card has to be consistent with what is on a person’s
birth certificate. If residents want
to change the information on the
ID card, they have to ask the Legal Affairs Bureau about doing
so. DSI said that it has so far received three enquiries regarding
cases similar to that of Avery.
TRANSPORT
Airport terminal expansion to begin this year
T
HE Macau International Airport Company
(CAM) will launch construction on an expansion
to the airport this year in
order to cope with the increasing demand.
The airport’s current
total capacity is 6 million
per year. CAM has previously announced that
it will be expanding the
terminal.
“At a conservative estimation, we will finish the
interior design, construction and the other works
in 2016. Then [the expansion] can be put into use.
We expect the expansion
of the airport’s south and
north to be completed in
2018. The total capacity by then will increase
from 6 million to 9 or 10
million [per year],” CAM
deputy chief Vicki Mou
said to TDM.
As the Times reported
previously, the local airport handled a total of
5.2 million passengers
in 2014, which is around
9 percent more than the
number from 2013,
Ms Mou also suggested
that the airport is expected to have more airlines and cater for more
customers. “The capacity for planes hasn’t
been saturated. There is
still a lot of space. (...)
We want to have planes running more frequently. We still have a
lot of space.”
CAM also revealed that
it is trying to allow an aircraft hangar for business
jets, which is currently
under construction so as
to start operating in the
first half of 2015.
ad
6
ADVERTISEMENT
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
廣告
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
分析
Corinne Gretler
N
ESTLE SA is revamping foods and
beverages in China
such as chocolate
and coffee after sales there
stagnated last year because
younger consumers are increasingly opting for higher
-end and more nutritious
items.
Revenue from the greater
China region was little changed at 6.64 billion Swiss francs (USD7 billion) last year,
the Vevey, Switzerland-based
company said Thursday. Demand for traditional products
such as Hsu Fu Chi biscuits
and Yinlu peanut-milk beverages waned, according to
Nandu Nandkishore, Nestle’s
head of Asia, Oceania and
Africa.
“People born after 1980
are born in single-child households and have been living
a life of relative abundance,”
Nandkishore said in an interview in Vevey. “They’re
making choices that are much
more premium and have nutrition, health and wellness
arguments.”
Adapting the product portfolio for those changing
tastes is crucial as the greater China region is Nestle’s
second-largest market, only
after the U.S., following the
acquisitions of Hsu Fu Chi
International Ltd. and Yinlu
Foods Group in 2011. Revenue growth in Nandkishore’s
business regions slowed to 2.6
percent in 2014, less than half
BLOOMBERG
Nestle adds high-end
snacks as Chinese
consumers opt for premium
BUSINESS
Warren Lee,
Standard Chartered
HK executive, dies in
NZ car crash
Warren Lee, head of capital markets
solutions at Standard Chartered Plc
in Hong Kong, died along with two
family members in a car crash in New
Zealand. He was 53. Lee, 52-year-old
Aesoon Lee and their daughter Julia
Lee, 20, were killed when their car
crashed near the North Island town
of Tokoroa on Tuesday, New Zealand
Police said in a statement. Warren and
Aesoon Lee were U.S. citizens. Julia Lee
was driving the car when it crashed,
police said. Her 18-year-old brother,
also an American living in Hong Kong,
remains in a critical but stable condition
in Waikato Hospital, according to the
statement. “We are deeply saddened
by the loss of Warren Lee,” Standard
Chartered said in an e-mailed statement
Friday. “We have already reached
out to his family to offer assistance
and support. The bank will provide
counseling services to staff members
as appropriate.” The family was in New
Zealand to help their daughter settle at
university in Auckland, where she was
due to begin studies after moving from
Massachusetts, police said.
Afghan official:
central bank branch
looted by its staff
Employees place label lids onto Maggi powdered ‘Mashed Potato’ containers at the Nestle Dongguan Ltd. factory in
Dongguan, Guangdong province
the pace of 2013, largely due
to China.
Asia, Oceania, Africa’s fourth-quarter sales “marks the
worst performance we can
recall,” analysts at Exane BNP
Paribas led by Jeff Stent wrote
in a note Thursday.
Nestle Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke said the company is still positive on China’s long-term prospects.
“China is definitely the land
of opportunity,” Bulcke said
at a press conference on last
year’s results. “During this
year, I want to see the growth
momentum coming back.”
Premium coffee, ice cream
and Yinlu congee rice porridge performed well last year,
as did infant nutrition, Nandkishore said. Retailers had
overstocked on some products and Nestle spent most
of 2014 to correct that, he
added.
Nestle upgraded Hsu Fu
Chi’s chocolates’ packaging
and products, adding more
nutritious snacks. More re
-launches will come this year,
the executive said.
The company also plans to
expand in e-commerce as a
third of pet food, infant nutrition and coffee are purchased
in the country via the Internet, Nandkishore said.
“There are many Chinas,”
he said. “We have to continue
to cater products for the old
China while we innovate and
renovate products for the new
China.” Bloomberg
An Afghan central bank official says
that around 76 million afghanis (more
than USD1 million) have been stolen by
the staff members of one of the bank’s
branches. Fazel Ahmad Azimi, the
central bank director for Afghanistan’s
southern region, said on Saturday
that at least three employees were
involved in the robbery — including
the director of the branch in the Spin
Boldak district of Kandahar province.
After checking security camera footage,
it was determined that the bank vault’s
door was opened using fake keys by the
branch manager and two other staff
members, Azimi added. The robbery was
discovered after a delegation from the
central bank went there to transfer some
of the funds. The suspected employees
are believed to have fled to neighboring
Pakistan, Azimi said.
corporate bits
sands china welcomes the year of the goat
with traditional ceremonies and lion dances
Sands China Ltd. rang in the
Year of the Goat Friday with traditional ceremonies and rituals held
across its properties. The second
day of the Chinese New Year saw
Sands China executives gather to
participate in what has become an
annual tradition for the company.
Sands Macao, The Venetian
Macao and Sands Cotai Central
each greeted the Year of the Goat
with a worship ritual, followed by
an eye-dotting ceremony and a
traditional lion dance performance.
Sands China executives attending
the ceremonies also visited the
7
team member dining areas at the
three properties, distributing lucky
goat plush toys and red packets to
team members and hosting rounds of lucky draws. Adding to the
festive atmosphere was a lantern
riddle challenge, a roasted pig cutting ceremony and a group photo;
with MOP 130,000 worth of lucky
prizes given away.
“Our team members are the
most essential assets of our company, and we value their culture
and heritage greatly,” said Edward
Tracy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sands China Ltd.
“Chinese New Year is the most
important festival in the Chinese
calendar and we’re happy to celebrate this special occasion with
them. This is a tradition we hope to
carry on for many years to come.”
mgm celebrates chinese new year with
lion dance blessing ceremony
MGM Macau held a lion
dance blessing ceremony
at the hotel property today
to mark the arrival of the
Chinese New Year. The
ceremony kicked off with an
eye-dotting ritual performed
by Mr. Grant Bowie, Chief
Executive Officer and Executive Director of MGM China Holdings Limited with his
management team, as he
wishes Macau a promising
year ahead and all an auspicious Year of the Goat.
The ceremony culminated
with a lion dance parade to
the accompaniment of cymbals, drums, firecrackers
and gongs. The crowd watched as the lions marched
into the hotel lobby to kick
the festive atmosphere up a
notch.
sjm hosts lunar new year’s eve
gala dinner
Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, S.A. hosted its traditional
Lunar New Year’s Eve Gala
Dinner at the Grand Lisboa on
18 February 2015 in the presence of the Chief Executive of Macau SAR Mr. Chui Sai On, Mr.
Wang Xindong, Vice-Secretary
General, Liaison Office of the
Central People’s Government in
the Macau SAR, Mr. Pan Yundong, Deputy Commissioner of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the People’s Republic of China
in Macau SAR, Dr. Vitor Sereno, Consul-General of Portugal
in Macau & Hong Kong. Guests
were welcomed by Dr. Ambrose
So, Chairman of the Board of
Directors of SJM, Ms. Angela
Leong, Managing Director of
SJM, and Mr. Louis Ng, SJM’s
Director and Chief Operating
Officer.
The evening also saw a video of Dr. Stanley Ho, whose
remarks on the Ram won great
applause from the guests.
After the dinner, a dragon
dance ceremony, officiated by
the Chief Executive Mr. Chui
Sai On and SJM directors,
was held at the Grand Lisboa
Piazza to welcome the Year of
Ram together with local residents and visitors.
8
BUSINESS
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
分析
Monopoly game
keeps growing at
age 80, with help
from ‘Frozen’
Allison Prang
Monopoly appeals more to
collectors than some other gaOW do you keep a De- mes, in part because of the vapression-era board game riety. Take Lauren Showers, a
like Monopoly growing after Monopoly fan in Mount Plea80 years? Keep giving people a sant, Michigan. The middle
school teacher has six different
reason to buy a new one.
That’s been the strategy of types of the game.
“I just get a kick out of it,” the
Hasbro Inc., which has created hundreds of versions of 23-year-old said.
Even so, the board-game
the game in a bid for repeat
shoppers. Special editions of business has seen “increasing
Monopoly cover everything volatility” over the past decafrom the New England Patrio- de, said Sean McGowan, a toyts to “The Walking Dead” TV industry analyst at Needham
show. The best-selling varia- & Co. in New York. Mobile
tion currently on Amazon.com devices are demanding more
is based on Walt Disney Co.’s attention, and many families
“Frozen.” (“Whoever collects don’t have time for a game that
the most cash will thaw their can last hours.
Hasbro has developed Mofreezing heart and win.”)
Monopoly’s ceaseless rein- nopoly computer versions and
vention has helped bolster de- mobile apps, but it also relies
mand in a era when kids are on technology to gauge what
engrossed in smartphones and to do with its board games.
tablets. Sales of the product Berkowitz’s team uses socialhave climbed more than 15 per- media accounts and quanticent in the past three years, and tative studies to get feedback,
lately it’s been outperforming as well as a “fun lab” where
the rest of Hasbro’s board-­ they test games on children, he
game business. A key driver: a said.
“We have a lot of kind of face2013 token contest that let people vote out one of Monopoly’s to-face testing and seeing how
game pieces and choose a new kids and families react to thinone to take its place. After in- gs,” Berkowitz said.
A new version called Monotense lobbying online, the cat
poly Here and Now will replareplaced the iron.
“Since then, we really just ce Boardwalk and other prostarted to build on that dia- perties with cities chosen by a
logue with our fan base and Buzz­Feed poll. The final list will
make sure we were listening to be announced on March 19,
them and doing things with the Monopoly’s official birthday.
Even as Hasbro works harder
game,” Jonathan Berkowitz,
vice president of gaming to keep Monopoly fresh, it remarketing for Hasbro, said in tains the allegiance of die-hard
an interview at last week’s Toy fans. That includes Dan Fernandez, a 63-year-old collector
Fair in New York.
Monopoly, which celebrates in Dove Creek, Colorado.
Every morning, he wakes up,
its 80th birthday next month,
is a bright spot in Hasbro’s gets his wife off to work, feeds
sluggish games category. To- his pets and goes straight to his
tal sales of the products fell 4 computer. There, with a cup of
percent last year, with clas- black coffee, Fernandez scours
sic games such as Twister EBay for Monopoly memoracontributing to the decline, bilia. Though his collection is
the company said earlier this focused on older versions of
month. That compares with the product, Fernandez thinks
20 percent growth for its Boys the game is still relevant today.
“It’s just a part of American
category, a group that includes
culture,” he said. Bloomberg
Nerf and Transformers.
H
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
published in partnership with macauhub.com.mo
A
continental fisheries
and communal aquaculture project was the
subject of a meeting
last week in Rome, between a
delegation from Angola and representatives of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Angolan news
agency Angop reported.
Angola’s Secretary of State
for Fisheries, Antonia Nelumba, is leading the delegation, which will negotiate
forms of financing the USD11
million of the project’s budget with IFAD.
The program will be implemented in the provinces
of Bengo, where the project
will be coordinated, Kwanza
Norte and Malanje.
The project, which aims to
introduce inland fishing and
aquaculture into the communal food supply chain, will be
focused on three areas, namely infrastructure, training
and cooperatives.
Meanwhile, Angola and
AP PHOTO
Angola negotiates
fishing project in Italy
Russia will increase cooperation in the fields of fisheries,
particularly
aquaculture,
and education (management
training), by signing two new
cooperation agreements.
Before leaving for Moscow,
the minister of Geology and
Mining, Francisco Queiroz,
said the two agreements
would be signed at the third
annual meeting of the Intergovernmental Bilateral Joint
Commission, which this year
takes place in the Russian
capital. MDT/Macauhub
中葡論壇
FORUM
9
EU supports 16 development
projects in Guinea-Bissau
T
HE European Union (EU)
has allocated 7 million euros
to 16 projects in Guinea-Bissau
within the framework of “European aid” to support cooperation
and development, the EU delegation in the country said in Bissau.
The statement said the financed activities cover areas such as
health, infrastructure, education,
employment, gender equality and
resource management, among
others, in different regions.
The average duration of each
project is 34 months and the
European Union responsible for
average co-financing of eligible
costs in the order of 80 percent.
The biggest agreement was
signed with AIDA, a Spanish
non-governmental organization
(http://www.ong-aida.org) that
will receive 700,000 euros for
the project for “Improvement
of access to health services for
vulnerable groups in the autonomous sector of Bissau.”
Most of the support was granted as part of a call for proposals
published in May 2014, with
three projects that received 1.5
million euros without meeting
requirements.
The “European Aid” initiative is part of the European
Commission’s foreign relations and its development policies. MDT/Macauhub
Bissau, capital city of Guinea-Bissau
ad
10
CHINA
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
中國
AP PHOTO
profit,” said the Chinese territory’s Hang Seng stock index
is likely to see some volatility
as its rooster character clashes
with this year’s sign.
The CLSA brokerage warns that people will be easily
annoyed and difficult to deal
with, so it’s “a good year to be
on guard and not get fleeced.”
The brokerage also speculates on the fortunes of celebrities. Jackie Chan’s actor son
Jaycee, released Friday after
serving a six-month sentence on drug-related charges,
has the zodiac sign of a dog
and will benefit from slowing
down and learning more about
himself, it said.
Astrologists
interviewed
said this year
would bring
a volatile
economy,
more transport
accidents and
windy natural
disasters
Toy sheep are displayed for sale for Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing
Happy New Year:
Astrological signs bad
for the Sheep Year Louise Watt, Beijing
C
HINESE were seeing in
the Year of the Sheep on
Thursday, but with fortunetellers predicting accidents
and an unstable economy and
some parents-to-be fretting
over the year’s reputation for
docile kids, it wasn’t exactly
warming everyone’s heart.
This animal sign, which comes once every dozen years,
can be said to have an identity crisis. Known variably as
the Year of the Goat, Sheep
or Ram, the sign’s confusion
stems from its Chinese character, “yang,” which broadly
describes any of the ruminating mammals, with or without horns.
Many Chinese prefer to
translate it as the “Year of
the Sheep” because sheep are
more cute and cuddly, and large sheep figures have appeared around the capital’s shopping areas in recent weeks.
The goat, however, is more
likely to be the original meaning because it was a popular
farm animal among Han Chinese who started the zodiac
tradition, Huang Yang, a researcher on the roles of sheep
and goats in Chinese culture,
was quoted by the official Xinhua News agency as saying.
Still, Xinhua is going with
“Year of the Sheep” in its English-language reports rather
than “Year of the Goat.”
The United States also
appears to be opting for the
fluffier, more gentle animal
sign, at least in the U.N. Security Council. A U.S. diplomat at a council meeting earlier this month wished China,
this month’s council president, a happy “Year of the
Sheep.”
During the seven-day holiday that started Wednesday,
the world’s second-biggest
economy largely shuts down.
Many mainland Chinese
tuned into the annual New
Year’s Eve TV gala Wednesday
evening, and this year’s mascot managed to achieve the
problem-solving feat of not
being clearly a sheep or a goat.
The previous year, the Year
of the Horse, is generally considered to be an auspicious
time — never mind that Asian
airlines had a string of high
-profile disasters.
Astrologists interviewed said
this year would bring a volatile economy, more transport
accidents and windy natural disasters such as torna-
does in the United States and
typhoons to Southeast Asia.
For China, which doesn’t
get tornadoes, that means air
pollution, “coming in with dirty air currents and affecting
everyone’s lives,” said Shanghai
-based astrologer Dong Jialing.
“In around June, when it’s
getting hot in China, the Western economy will fluctuate
quite a lot and will be very
unstable,” Dong predicted.
But August or September will
mark the start of a very stable
economic period.
Feng shui master Clement
Chan, who appeared on “America’s Next Top Model” as a
guest judge in an episode filmed in Macau, said he sees a
lot of fire this year, and “fire
means accidents.” He anticipates plane crashes in the
first half, but not as many as
in 2014. He also sees a lot of
road accidents.
On the positive side, he sees
female managers and company leaders doing well this
year. “I think you’ll see a lot of
female world leaders — they’ll
achieve something great, actually,” Chan said.
A Hong Kong brokerage
that publishes a tongue-incheek annual feng shui report,
“more for your pleasure than
People born in the yang year,
including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Zhang Ziyi, traditionally are believed to be filial,
kind-hearted and artistic,
while also timid, obstinate
and consummate worriers.
The Chinese character “yang”
is present in other characters
with positive meanings, such
as “beautiful,” ‘’auspicious”
and “goodness.” Still, some
superstitious Chinese find the
year inauspicious and believe
that sheep babies will be unhappy and more likely followers
than leaders. Some parents
say they’ll avoid having a child
this year.
Dr. Meika Chin, a midwife at
Shanghai United Family Hospital, estimated births in the coming year would be 20 percent
below the average, with many
couples saying “they’re going to
skip the Year of Sheep and have
the baby the year after.”
It was possible to induce births early to avoid the sheep
year, Chin said. “We always
say it’s the end of the horse
year, rush hour, you know,
they want to get in.”
One woman attending a prenatal class, and due in late February, said she doesn’t pay
much attention to the zodiac.
“Lots of people think sheep
babies’ lives will be very tiring
and they have to work hard,
so lots of people try to avoid
having sheep babies,” said the
mother-to-be, who would only
give her surname, Li.
“But that means my baby
won’t have as much competition, which is great.” AP
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
中國
C
HINA
summoned
India’s ambassador
over Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s visit to a disputed border region in the Himalayas, a longfestering irritant in relations
between the Asian giants.
Modi on Friday visited the
northeastern Indian state
of Arunachal Pradesh, an
immense territory of nearly
84,000 square kilometers
that China claims as part of
its Tibet region.
Modi marked the 28th
anniversary of Arunachal
Pradesh being declared a
state, opened a train line and
called for hydropower projects to spur regional growth.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said late Saturday that
Vice Foreign Minister Liu
Zhenmin had called in Indian
Ambassador Ashok Kantha
to express “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition”
to the visit, saying it undermined China’s territorial sovereignty.
Liu said China places importance on developing relations
with India. It called for New
Delhi not to take any action
that may complicate the issue
and stick to resolving it through bilateral negotiations.
China and India fought a
brief but bloody frontier war
in 1962. They agreed to a line
of actual control in 1996 and
began talks on settling the
dispute. While analysts see
little danger of a conventional war over the border,
frequent skirmishes make it
difficult to achieve a lasting
resolution. AP
AP PHOTO
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a traditional attire of the northeastern
Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh
Nursing home worker kills 3,
injures 15 with brick
A
nursing home worker in central China
accused of killing three elderly residents
with a brick and injuring 15 other people had
argued with his boss over unpaid wages, according to a local government and state media.
Luo Renchu, 64, attacked elderly residents
and staff at the privately run home in Hunan
province at around 2 a.m. Thursday, the first
day of the Chinese New Year, the Shuangfeng county government said in a statement.
Luo fled and police said they apprehended
him on a mountain on Saturday afternoon.
The official Xinhua News Agency, citing
police, reported Saturday that the attack
happened shortly after Luo argued with the
nursing home’s owner over unpaid wages of
40,000 yuan (USD6,500). Luo and his wife,
who also works at the Aixin Nursing Home,
had been promised 10,000 yuan before the
new year, but owner Fang Hongchun gave
them only 6,000 yuan, Xinhua said.
Xinhua said the 15 injured were residents
and included Fang’s mother and brother.
Most suffered head injuries and six were in
life-threatening condition.
The home has more than 90 residents
mostly in their 70s and 80s. About 70 of
them were at their families’ homes for the
Lunar New Year holiday during the attack,
according to Xinhua. AP
11
HONG KONG
Woolly mammoths
invading the city
Bruce Einhorn
I
N the Sheung Wan district of
Hong Kong, just across the
street from a popular department store, Ming Hing Arts has
a newly opened shop selling
chopsticks, bracelets, Buddha
statues, and other carvings made
from ivory. Ming Hing offers something for every pocketbook: A
carving of the Monkey King from
the classic novel Journey to the
West will set you back HK$2.88
million (USD371,000), but you
can buy a toothpick for HK$38.
Some of the ivory comes from
elephants. You say you’re worried about the dwindling population of the African herds? Not
a problem: Ming Hing also offers
items carved from the ivory of
extinct woolly mammoths recovered from the Arctic tundra. In
the shop window is a 3-foot-long
mammoth tusk, yours for just
HK$1.88 million.
As climate change melts the
permafrost in the north, more
mammoth tusks are available
for Hong Kong’s ivory dealers.
China imported an average of
less than 9 tons of mammoth
ivory a year from Hong Kong in
the early 2000s, but from 2007
to 2013 average annual imports
increased to 31 tons. The value of
mammoth ivory imports to Hong
Kong averaged HK$1 million per
ton in 2010. By last year it had
gone to HK$2.2 million.
HK$2.2m
The growing popularity of
mammoth tusks once offered the
promise of guilt-free consumption of ivory. A global ban on the
international trade of elephant
ivory took effect 25 years ago,
although merchants could continue selling from their existing
stockpiles. To an untrained eye,
there’s little difference between
trinkets carved from elephant
ivory and mammoth ivory. But
activists worry that some merchants selling mammoth ivory
are also disguising illegal sales of
ivory taken from elephants killed in Africa by poachers. Some
retailers “say they’re selling
mammoth ivory, but they’re not;
they’re really selling elephant
ivory,” says Frank Pope, chief
operations officer of Save the
Elephants, a British charity with
operations in Kenya. Ming Hing
Arts declined to comment. The
boutique is fully licensed to deal
in elephant ivory.
Hong Kong, long a center of
the global ivory trade, had 111.3
tons of elephant ivory licensed
for commercial use in 2014, the
latest figure available from the
government’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. That’s down from 121.1
tons in 2010. Elizabeth Quat, a
member of the Hong Kong legislature, says the city remains an
BLOOMBERG
Beijing protests to
India over Modi’s
visit to disputed area
CHINA
Yao Ming at the David Sheldrick Wildlife
Trust elephant orphanage in Kenya
“illegal trading hub” for elephant
ivory sold by poachers. She wants a temporary ban on all sales of
African ivory to give the government time to come up with a
more effective way to police the
trade. On Feb. 10, Quat held a
press conference to call for a ban
in China, too.
The growing presence of mammoth ivory makes the market
even murkier, says Alex Hofford, campaign manager in
Hong Kong for the anti-poaching
group WildAid, which has recruited retired NBA star Yao Ming as
one of its celebrity ambassadors
on the mainland. Anyone purchasing elephant ivory in Hong
Kong isn’t allowed to take it
across the border to China, but
Hofford says mainland tourists
will often buy ivory chopsticks
as souvenirs. “The chopsticks
are never made out of mammoth ivory,” Hofford says. “They’re
always from elephants.” He says
some dealers will issue certificates falsely identifying the source
of the ivory as mammoths. That’s
a plausible ploy because there are
a lot of mammoth ivory objects
for sale in Hong Kong shops.
About 90 percent of local retailers selling ivory don’t have
licenses to sell ivory on display,
as required by the government,
Quat says, so it’s hard to know
if their inventory is legitimate
ivory from the pre-1990 supply
or smuggled ivory from freshly
killed elephants. “We really don’t
know if what they are selling is
legal,” says Quat.
He also says the government
needs to work harder to get the
message out to tourists that there’s a downside to buying ivory
bric-a-brac for the relatives back
home. “We have to educate people not to buy ivory at all,” she
says. “If there’s no demand, there would be no killing.” Bloomberg
HKD2.2m
Value of mammoth
ivory imports to Hong
Kong in 2014
12
ASIA-PACIFIC
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
亞太版
BANGLADESH
Julhas Alam, Dhaka
A
river ferry carrying about
140 passengers capsized in
central Bangladesh yesterday,
killing at least 48 people, officials said. A rescue operation
was underway, but it was not
clear exactly how many people
were missing.
The ferry was reportedly hit
by a cargo vessel at the Daulatdia-Paturia crossing on the
Padma River yesterday afternoon, said fire department official Shahzadi Begum. Rescue
teams were deployed and passing boats were helping in the
operation, he said.
The site is 40 kilometers
northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. Ferry accidents
are common in Bangladesh,
an impoverished South Asian
nation that is crisscrossed by
more than 130 rivers.
The ferry was submerged
at a depth of up to 6 meters,
said Inspector Zihad Mia,
who is overseeing the rescue
AP PHOTO
Ferry with 140 passengers
sinks; at least 48 dead
Bangladeshi relatives wail near bodies of victims after a river ferry carrying about 100 passengers capsized
SINGAPORE
L
EE Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding father,
has been hospitalized for
severe pneumonia, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
Lee, 91, was admitted
to Singapore General Hospital on Feb. 5, the office
said in a statement Saturday. His condition has stabilized and he remains on
mechanical ventilation in
intensive care, the statement said.
It said Lee was conscious
and lightly sedated, and
that doctors were continuing to monitor his condition.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong, the son of Lee Kuan
Yew, said in a Facebook
posting that he visited his
father on Saturday to wish
him a speedy recovery.
“Visited my father in hospital this morning. Did not
see him on the first day of
the New Year, on the advice of doctors (both his and
mine). So we wished him
Happy New Year today,
and a smooth recovery,”
he said, adding it was the
first time in a long while
AP PHOTO
City’s founder hospitalized
with pneumonia
INDIA
Head of UN climate
panel skips meeting
amid harassment case
Katy Daigle, New Delhi
T
Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew
that the family had missed
reunion dinner for the Chinese New Year.
A founding member of the
ruling People’s Action Party, which transformed Singapore from a slow port city
to a wealthy, bustling metropolis, Lee became prime
minister in 1959 and held
power for 31 years.
He continued to work for
the government, first as
“senior minister,” a non
-executive advisory post
created for him, and from
2004 until 2011 as “minister mentor.”
The PAP suffered its
worst election results in
2011 as it struggled to stem
rising discontent over the
high cost of living, an influx of foreign laborers and
rising income inequality.
Under Lee and his successors, Singapore — known
for its ban on chewing gum
sales and canings for crimes some countries would
rule as minor — has strictly
controlled public speech
and assembly though has
become socially more liberal and allowed greater
artistic freedom in recent
years.
Lee commands immense
respect among Singaporeans, who this year will
celebrate the 50th independence anniversary. AP
operation.
By yesterday evening, at least 48
bodies, including five children,
had been recovered, Mia said.
He said officials had yet to determine how many passengers
were missing. Ferries in Bangladesh usually do not maintain formal passenger lists.
“We don’t have a clear picture
about how many were exactly
in the ferry when it sank,” Mia
said. “But I think many have
survived.”
A passenger who survived said
many people got trapped inside
when the ferry sank. “The passengers who were on the deck
have survived, but many who
were inside got trapped,” Hafizur Rahman Sheikh was quoted as saying by the Prothom
Alo newspaper.
Sheikh said the cargo vessel
hit the middle of the ferry.
The Padma is one of the largest rivers in Bangladesh, where overcrowding and poor safety standards are often blamed
for ferry disasters.
Last August, a ferry with a
capacity of 85 passengers was
found to be carrying more than
200 when it capsized on the
Padma near Dhaka, leaving
more than 100 people dead or
missing. The ferry’s owner was
arrested after weeks in hiding
on charges of culpable homicide, unauthorized operation and
overloading. AP
HE Indian leader of the U.N.’s
expert panel on climate change
has pulled out of a key meeting in
Nairobi while pledging to cooperate
with New Delhi police investigating
allegations of sexual harassment.
The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change said its chairman,
R.K. Pachauri, would skip next
week’s plenary session in the Kenyan
capital “because of issues demanding
his attention in India.”
While the organization refused to
elaborate, Pachauri is being investigated after a 29-year-old woman accused him of sexually harassing her
while they worked together at the
New Delhi lobbying and research organization he heads, The Energy Resources Institute.
The 75-year-old Pachauri said he
was “committed to provide all assistance and cooperation to the authorities in their ongoing investigations,”
according to a statement issued Saturday night.
News reports said New Delhi police
also plan to question a second woman
who made public allegations against
Pachauri on Saturday but provided no
evidence and filed no police complaint.
Delhi police spokesman Rajan
Bhagat had no comment yesterday,
beyond saying “the investigation is in
progress.”
The case erupted over the past week
after a court lifted a media gag order
Thursday and allowed Pachauri to
apply for anticipatory bail. Newspapers have since run full-page stories
detailing alleged text-message exchanges between the IPCC chief and
the woman.
In the past couple of years, India has seen a wave of public anger
and protest over this socially conservative nation’s chronic problem
with sexual harassment and violence
against women. While new laws have
increased prison terms for rape and
made stalking, voyeurism and sexual
harassment a crime, new reports of
abuse are featured by newspapers almost every day.
The IPCC said Saturday that one of
its vice-chairs would lead the Nairobi
meeting, which begins Tuesday. Pachauri has chaired the climate panel
since 2002, accepting the 2007 Nobel
Peace Prize on its behalf. He has said
he will not run for a third term after
October. AP
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
亞太版
ASIA-PACIFIC
MALDIVES
M
ALDIVES authorities arrested former President
and current opposition
leader Mohamed Nasheed
yesterday, ordering him to stand trial
for his 2012 decision to arrest a senior
judge.
Nasheed’s supporters protested in the
streets of the capital, Male, following the
arrest in a sign that the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, in just its seventh year
of multiparty democracy following 30
years of autocratic rule, could be plunging into political uncertainty.
A document signed by a senior criminal
court judge seen by The Associated Press
said Nasheed was being charged under
anti-terrorism laws. Television stations
in the country aired scenes of the arrest.
Nasheed resigned as president in February 2012 following weeks of public
protests against his order to arrest Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed. In 2013, he lost the presidential
election to current President Yameen
Abdul Gayyoom, a half-brother of the
country’s 30-year autocratic ruler, Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom.
AP PHOTO
Authorities arrest ex-president
for his move against judge
Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed
The arrest comes weeks after a key
ally of Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, whose
support helped him win the presidency, defected from the ruling coalition to
align with Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party to launch a series of protests
to force Gayyoom to resign.
They accuse Gayyoom’s administration
of repeatedly violating the constitution.
Government minister Mohamed Shareef said Nasheed was arrested because
the court felt he may not honor a summons to stand trial.
Shareef said the anti-terrorism laws cover not only acts or planned acts of violence, but a wide range of “acts against
the state.”
Nasheed is accused of using the military to arrest the senior judge when it
had no authority to do so, Shareef said.
He also is accused of detaining Mohamed for weeks without trial or legal counsel and ignoring a Supreme Court order to release him, he said.
Maldivian Democratic Party spokesman Hamid Abdul Gaffoor said in a
statement that “Nasheed had never absconded from court, nor has taken the
opportunity to flee or go into hiding,”
and called on the authorities to release
him immediately.
Nasheed was a pro-democracy campaigner during Maumoon Abdul Gayyoom’s
1978-2008 rule, and was arrested a number of times for his activism. He defeated
Gayyoom in the country’s first multiparty
election in 2008. AP
13
AFGHANISTAN
Dialogue with
Taliban could
begin in March
A
FTER more than a decade of warfare, negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban are
set to begin, officials, diplomats and
experts said as President Ashraf Ghani
declared that peace is closer now than at
any time since the war began following
the September 11, 2001 attacks on the
United States. On Saturday, Ghani said
that “the grounds for peace have never been better in the last 36 years” of
continuous Afghan wars, including 13
years of conflict with the Taliban. Since
taking office in September, Ghani has
rolled out a complex strategy aimed at
forcing the Taliban leadership to accept
that their cause — replacing his government with an Islamist emirate — is
hopeless. He has enlisted the support of
regional countries believed to protect,
fund and arm the Taliban, including
Pakistan which is pressuring the insurgents to open a channel for peace negotiations, officials and diplomats said.
A senior Afghan official, who spoke on
condition he not be identified as he was
not authorized to discuss the issue, said
hopes are high that a dialogue, as a precursor to full-scale peace negotiations,
will begin soon. AP
ad
14
WORLD
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
分析
TURKEY Suzan Fraser, Ankara
Military enters Syria to
evacuate troops, tomb
AP PHOTO
T
URKISH soldiers launched an overnight
raid into neighboring
Syria, evacuating dozens of besieged troops guarding an Ottoman tomb and moving the crypt yesterday back
to Turkey after ceremonially
planting the country’s crescent-and-star flag.
In a one-line report on the incident, Syria’s state news agency denounced what it called a
“blatant aggression” by Turkey.
The mission, saving Turkish
soldiers reportedly stuck for
months at the tomb of the
grandfather of the founder of
the Ottoman Empire, saw hundreds of troops backed by tanks
cross the border near the border town of Kobani once besieged by the Islamic State group.
Turkey was widely criticized
for not intervening for months
in the Kobani battle, which finally saw Kurdish fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes push
out the extremists.
“We had given the Turkish armed forces a directive to protect
our spiritual values and the safety
of our armed forces personnel,”
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.
Nearly 600 Turkish soldiers
on some 100 tanks and armored
personnel carriers crossed into
Syria on Saturday night, as drones and airplanes flew reconnaissance missions overhead,
Davutoglu said yesterday.
One group traveled to the
tomb, some 35 kilometers
from Turkey on the banks of
the Euphrates River in Syria’s
embattled Aleppo province,
Davutoglu said. Another group
In this April 7, 2011 file photo, Turkish soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the memorial site of Suleyman Shah, grandfather
of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, in Karakozak village, northeast of Aleppo
seized an area only 200 meters from the Turkish border
in Syria’s Ashma region, according to a statement from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
office.
One soldier was killed in an
“accident” during the operation, Turkey’s military said, without elaborating.
Turkish media later showed
nationalistic images of three
Turkish soldiers raising the
country’s flag at the new site.
“Before the Turkish flag was
lowered at (the tomb), the
Turkish flag started to be waved
at another location in Syria,”
Davutoglu said. He said troops
destroyed the complex once
housing the tomb.
The U.S.-led coalition forces
were informed of the Turkish
operation after its launch to
prevent any casualties, Davutoglu said. U.S. officials offered
no immediate comment.
There had been rumors for
months that the soldiers stationed at the tomb had been
besieged by militants from the
Islamic State group, which hold
a third of Syria and neighboring
Iraq in their self-declared caliphate. Some 40 Turkish soldiers
once guarded the tomb, making
them a target for the Islamic
State group and other militants
in Syria’s long-running civil war,
though the overnight operation
apparently saw no fighting.
The tomb belonged to Suleyman Shah, the grandfather
of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. The site along
the Euphrates River is revered
by Turkey, a strongly nationalist country whose rights there
stem from a 1921 treaty with
France, then the colonial power
in Syria. The Ottoman Empire
collapsed in the early 20th century after World War I.
In the 1970s, Turkey moved
the mausoleum to its last location because the old site at
a castle further south in Syria
was to be inundated by the waters of a new dam.
Shah, a Turkic leader, is believed to have drowned in the
Euphrates in the 13th century.
His followers headed north into
what is today Turkey, where
they launched the Ottoman
Empire. Some historians question official accounts about the
Shah’s tomb, saying they might
have been retrospectively concocted to enrich an imperial
identity for Turks. AP
UKRAINE
Jim Heintz, Kiev
T
WO people were killed and about eight
others injured in a bomb
explosion at a march yesterday in Ukraine’s second-largest city that was
commemorating the first
anniversary of the ouster of president Viktor
Yanukovych, the country’s
interior ministry said.
The Interior Ministry
said the blast was due to
an “unknown explosive
device” and was being
considered a terrorist act.
The violence comes
as Ukraine continues to
be riven by tension and
bloodshed stemming from
Yanukovych’s fall a year
ago. The Ukrainian parliament voted Feb. 22,
2014 to remove the Russia-friendly
president,
following months of in-
AP PHOTO
Blast hits march in Kharkiv, killing 2, injuring 8
Russia-backed rebels guard a bus carrying Ukrainian prisoners of
war in Luhansk
creasingly violent protests
in the capital, Kiev.
The Crimean peninsula,
where residents largely
regarded his downfall as
a coup, was annexed by
Russia a month later.
Then armed rebels opposed to the new authorities
in Kiev took over large
parts of two regions bordering Russia, setting off
a war that has killed more
than 5,600 people.
A peace plan envisioning
a cease-fire and pullback of
heavy weapons was signed
10 days ago, but cease-fire
violations continue.
Ukraine plans to begin
pulling back heavy weaponry from the front lines
yesterday in accordance with the peace plan,
a military spokesman
said. Ukrainian military
spokesman Col. Andriy
Lysenko told a briefing
that the withdrawal was
to begin, but did not give
further details.
Rebel spokesman Eduard
Basurin said the pullback
from both sides was to take
place between yesterday
and March 7, but he did
not specify whether rebels
had made any moves yet.
There was no immediate
confirmation that the withdrawal had begun.
Both sides are to pull back
their big guns and rockets
from 25 to 70 kilometers
away from the conflict line
- depending on the weapons’ size - creating a buffer zone of between 50 and
140 kilometers.
The buffer zone was a
main element of a peace
agreement worked out in
marathon negotiations 10
days ago in Minsk, Belarus. It also calls for a full
exchange of war captives.
Late Saturday, 139 Ukrainian soldiers and 52 rebels were exchanged; it remains unclear how many
prisoners in total are on
each side and when other
swaps might take place.
The cease-fire that was
the first element of the
Minsk plan was called into
effect last Sunday.
Ukraine said Russia-backed separatists violated
the cease-fire a dozen
times during the night
with artillery and rocket
attacks and an attempt to
storm a Ukrainian encampment. Lysenko said one
serviceman was killed and
three wounded over the
past day.
Explosions were heard
in the main rebel-held
city Donetsk around dawn
yesterday and a rebel website says several buildings
in the city were damaged
by artillery.
Despite the reported violations, the level of firing
appeared to be far lower
than a week ago when a
cease-fire was called.
Among the attacks reported by the Ukrainian
military was an attempt
to storm positions in the
village of Shyrokyne near
the port city of Mariupol.
That city remains of strategic concern to Ukraine because rebel seizure
of it could help establish
a land corridor between
mainland Russia and the
Russia-annexed Crimean
peninsula. AP
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
廣告
ADVERTISEMENT
15
16
INFOTAINMENT
what’s ON
...
“Beyond the Surface, Mio Pang Fei
Featured Art Exhibition” (Macau)
Time: 12pm-8pm (Tuesdays to Sundays)
3pm-8pm (Mondays)
Until: March 1, 2015
Venue: Albergue SCM – Gallery A2, Calçada da
Igreja de São Lázaro No.8, Macau
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 2852 2550 / 2852 3205
Transcend
– Works by Lai Sio Kit and Sylviye Lei
Time: 12pm-7pm
(Closed on Sundays and public holidays)
Until: March 7, 2015
Venue: Estrada da Areia Preta No. 52, Edificio da
Fabrica de Baterias N.E. National, 3rd Floor, Macau
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 2836 6064
Impression of Macau
– Oil Paintings by Zhen Guo
Time: 10am-7pm
(Mondays to Fridays, closed on the public holidays)
3pm-8pm (Saturdays)
Until: March 3, 2015
Venue: Rui Cunha Foundation Gallery,
Avenida da Praia Grande, nº 749, r/c
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 2892 3288
Macau Science Centre
Time: 10am-6pm (Closed on Thursdays)
Address: Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-Sen
Admission: Exhibition Centre: MOP25
Planetarium (Dome/Sky Shows): MOP50
Planetarium (3D Dome/3D Sky Shows): MOP65
Enquiries: (853) 2888 0822
“See and Touch”
- Touchable Arts Exhibition
Time: 12pm-7pm (Closed on public holidays)
Until: March 31, 2015
Venue: Artistry of Wind Box Community
Development Association / Rua Tomas Vieira 3A
R/C
Admission: Free
Enquiries: (853) 6685 9215
23.02.2015 mon
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
TV canal macau
13:00
TDM News (Repeated)
13:30
News (RTPi) Delayed Broadcast
14:30
RTPi Live
17:35
Brazil Avenue (Repeat)
18:30
Non-Daily Portuguese News (Repeated)
19:30
Soap Opera
20:30
Main News, Financial & Weather Report
21:00
TDM Sports
22:10
Brazil Avenue
23:00
TDM News
23:30
Champions League Magazine
00:00
Portuguese Music
00:45
Main News, Financial & Weather Report (Repeated)
cinema
cineteatro
18 Feb - 25 Feb
STAND BY ME DORAEMON_
room 1
2.00, 5.40 pm
Language: Cantonese (Chinese)
Duration: 95min
TRIUMPH IN THE SKIES_
room 1
7.30 pm
Language: Cantonese (English and Chinese)
Duration: 127min
KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE_
room 2
2.30, 7.15, 11.30 pm
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Colin Firth, Michael Caine, Samuel L. Jackson
Language: English (Chinese)
Duration: 127min
PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR_
room 2
4.45 pm
Language: Cantonese (Chinese)
Duration: 127min
STAND BY ME DORAEMON_
room 2
7.15 pm
Language: Cantonese (Chinese)
Duration: 95min
Offbeat
Rudy Giuliani backs off assertion
that Obama doesn’t love America
It may be as close as Rudy
Giuliani will come to a retraction. The former New York City Mayor
called into Bloomberg Politics’
With All Due Respect on Thursday to try and walk back comments he made a day earlier at
New York’s 21 Club where he
stated, ““I do not believe, and I
know this is a horrible thing to
The former New York City
say, but I do not believe that the
Mayor Rudy Giuliani
president loves America.”
When pressed over whether
he stood by his remarks about Obama’s love of the country,
Giuliani softened his tone. “Well actually, if I could express it more clearly, what I mean
is he doesn’t express it,” Giuliani said. “I shouldn’t say that the
president does or does not love anything. I don’t know, I’m
not a psychiatrist, and he doesn’t have one and he doesn’t
need one.” Yet Giuliani also wavered, noting that he’s made the same
accusation several times over the last several years, and arguing that Obama’s past comments reveal someone who has
trouble expressing love for America, stating, “that’s the impression I get from what he says, yes.” He added that Obama
“seeks to criticize [America], more than uplift it, and doesn’t
get the notion of American exceptionalism.” Bloomberg
this day in history
1972 Hijackers surrender and
free Lufthansa crew
A group of Palestinian hijackers who took over a
Lufthansa jet in the skies over India two days ago
has released the crew and surrendered at an airstrip
in the Yemen.
All the 172 passengers - including Joseph Kennedy,
son of the late Senator Robert Kennedy - were freed
yesterday after painstaking negotiations with the prime minister of Yemen, Nasser Muhammad, and West
German officials.
The five Palestinians had demanded an undisclosed
sum of money and the release of three Jordanians
under arrest in West Germany after a shooting took
place in Cologne on 6 February. Women and children were released first from the New Delhi-Athens
Boeing 747 and flown to Frankfurt.
It was followed this afternoon by a Lufthansa Boeing
707 carrying all the male passengers. The men had
had to wait in the second Boeing for three hours
parked near the hijacked plane while talks with the
guerrillas continued.
As the Palestinians were led away, 14 crew members emerged tonight from the aircraft looking tense
after their two-day ordeal but still smart in their black
and gold uniforms. Explosives experts then boarded
the plane to defuse charges planted on the aircraft.
Among the hijacked passengers was 19-year-old
Joseph Kennedy, whose father was assassinated by
a Palestinian, Sirhan Sirhan in 1968. On his release
he told journalists he did not think he was the target
behind the hijacking. “I do not think the plane was
hijacked because of me. I was not certain I was going
to be aboard,” he said.
According to one stewardess, Karin Bode, released
earlier because of health problems, they had at first
ordered the plane to land at a desert airstrip near
Amman in Jordan.
But the pilot had talked them out of this saying the
plane was too large to land there and flew the plane
to its intended destination - Aden in the Yemen.
FROM VEGAS TO MACAU 2_
room3
3.45, 7.30, 9.30 pm
Language: Cantonese (English and Chinese)
Duration: 90min
PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR_
room 3
2.00, 5.45 pm
Language: Cantonese (Chinese)
Duration: 127min
macau tower
19 Feb - 04 Mar
12 GOLDEN DUCKS_
2.30, 4.30, 7.00, 9.30 pm
Director: Matt Chow
Starring: Eason Chan, Louis Koo, Sandra Kwan Yue Ng
Language: Chinese (Chinese)
Duration: 92min
Courtesy BBC News
In context
It later emerged the hijackers belonged to the PFLP (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and had been paid
USD500m in ransom. The South Yemen government was also
paid $1m for allowing the jet to land on its territory.
Working with other groups, the PFLP pioneered aircraft hijackings as a high profile means of drawing attention to their
movement, most notably the capture of an Air France plane en
route from Paris to Athens in 1976.
The plane was flown to Entebbe in Uganda, where after a
standoff, Israel launched a dramatic commando raid to rescue
nearly 100 hostages.
The decline and collapse of the Soviet Union, its main supporter, during the late 1980s undermined the PFLP, and the
group lost ground to the radical Islamic Hamas movement.
The succession of Abu Ali Mustafa - who replaced the founder
of the movement, George Habash - in 2000, was seen by many
in Israel as heralding a return to the group’s radical policies of
1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
資訊／娛樂
Taurus
Mar. 21-Apr. 19
April 20-May 20
Your terrific energy is pushing you
in bold new directions today — and
you are sure to blaze at least one
trail toward an exciting goal. It’s a
great time to be you or to follow in
your footsteps.
You’re in no big hurry, but the world
seems to be conspiring against
you today. You may feel a sense of
urgency coming from outside that
is mostly just irritating. Get moving
with it!
Gemini
Cancer
May 21-Jun. 21
Jun. 22-Jul. 22
You know what you want, and you
know when you want it — so now is
the time to get to work on it! Your
great energy is pushing you in a new
direction that could mean a lot to
you.
Your emotions are all over the map
today — which could mean that it’s
easy to get riled up. Things aren’t
going your way early on, but if you
keep your cool, you can probably
salvage the situation.
Leo
Virgo
Jul. 23-Aug. 22
Aug. 23-Sept. 22
You meet someone new who blows
your mind — and may even change
your opinion in a major way. Your
great energy is perfect for making
big changes, and now is the time to
go for the gold!
You’re feeling pretty feisty today
— so much so that you may start
little fights without even realizing it.
Things are going your way, but you
should try not to step on too many
toes!
Libra
SUDOKU
WEATHER
MIN
Easy
Sep.23-Oct. 22
Oct. 23 - Nov. 21
You’re at your best today when
you’re helping others — so put on
your altruistic hat and get busy! You
should be able to make all sorts of
great changes if you just stay focused
on what’s most important.
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Dec. 22-Jan. 19
Your romantic situation gets a lot
more intense — in a good way!
You may meet someone new who
thrills you or you may find a new
connection with your sweetheart.
Enjoy this phase!
You are feeling a little tired out —
but perseverance is essential! Your
energy reserves can help you to
make the final push, and you should
be able to outlast the competition if it
comes to that.
Medium
Hard
Feb.19-Mar. 20
You feel totally amazed at this
morning’s news — and your great
energy should help you make the
most of it. In fact, you may create
something even more amazing, so
be prepared for a big win!
You just can’t figure out what your
sweetie or business partner is
trying to tell you — it’s as if they’ve
suddenly started speaking in a
foreign language. Now is a good time
for temporary separations.
DOWN: 1- Sleep stage; 2- Hail, to Caesar; 3- Latin word which means “for every”;
4- Locks; 5- Igneous rock of a lava flow; 6- ___ by land...; 7- Large cat; 8- Buckeyes’
sch.; 9- Under discussion; 10- Bear in the
sky; 11- Depend; 12- Affirmative votes;
Thursday’s solution
15- Voted into a seat; 21- Sawbucks;
23- Posed; 24- Delphic shrine; 25- Polite
refusal; 26- Fit to be eaten; 27- Governed;
29- Departing; 30- Rustic; 31- Rice-___;
32- Like ears; 34- Machine for lifting
heavy loads; 37- Victory; 40- Place in
order; 42- Made a hole; 43- Tool to break
solid water; 45- ___ few rounds; 46- Writer
Hemingway; 48- Utah’s ___ Mountains;
49- Weeps; 50- Astronaut Shepard; 51___ dancing is popular with cowboys!;
52- Impetuous; 54- Auth. unknown; 55Portrayal by an actor; 56- Initial stake in a
hand of poker; 59- Fan setting
Crossword puzzles provided by BestCrosswords.com
CROSSWORDS
ACROSS: 1- Spellbound; 5- String tie; 9- Charisma, atmosphere; 13- At any time; 14Parsley-family herb, used for flavoring; 16- Deuce topper; 17- A ___ formality; 18- Capital
of South Korea; 19- Land in water; 20- Stigma; 22- Compositions; 24- Ego; 27- Some DVD
players; 28- Gnawing animal; 29- Harsh; 33- Not quite right; 34- “Unforgettable” singer;
35- Drachma replacement; 36- Where the truck driver rides; 37- Reliable; 38- Burgle;
39- In ___ land; 41- McNally’s partner; 42- “Cheers” waitress; 44- Appearing; 46- Greek
geometrician; 47- Cad; 48- Impulse; 49- Low bow; 52- Oysters ___ season; 53- Graph
prefix; 57- Actor Ken; 58- Flat surface; 60- A party to; 61- Sudden explosive noise; 62Emcees; 63- Young male horse; 64- Dagger of yore; 65- Come again?; 66- Human leg joint;
CONDITION
Beijing
-5
6
clear
Harbin
-13
-5
snow shower
Tianjin
-4
6
clear
Urumqi
-9
0
clear
overcast/cloudy
Xi’an
0
9
Lhasa
-4
12
clear/cloudy
Chengdu
8
14
overcast/cloudy
Chongqing
10
17
overcast
Kunming
5
22
clear
Nanjing
4
10
drizzle/overcast
Shanghai
6
10
drizzle
Wuhan
3
10
drizzle
Hangzhou
6
10
drizzle
Taipei
17
23
overcast/drizzle
Guangzhou
18
23
moderate rain
Hong Kong
19
22
cloudy
Moscow
0
3
drizzle
Frankfurt
0
3
drizzle/moderate rain
Paris
3
5
drizzle/moderate rain
London
4
10
moderate rain/drizzle
New York
-7
4
flurry/overcast
WORLD
Pisces
Jan. 20-Feb. 18
MAX
CHINA
Easy+
Scorpio
Try not to get too spooked if you’re in
a bad mood — you can fix it up really
quickly if you want. Sometimes you
just need to wallow in bad feelings,
but this time it’s totally under your
control.
Aquarius
17
THE BORN LOSER by Chip Sansom
YOUR STARS
Aries
INFOTAINMENT
USEFUL TELEPHONE NUMBERS
Emergency calls 999
Taxi 28 939 939 / 2828 3283
Fire department 28 572 222
Water Supply – Report 1990 992
PJ (Open line) 993
Telephone – Report 1000
PJ (Picket) 28 557 775
Electricity – Report 28 339 922
PSP 28 573 333
Macau Daily Times 28 716 081
Customs 28 559 944
S. J. Hospital 28 313 731
Kiang Wu Hospital 28 371 333
Commission Against
Corruption (CCAC) 28326 300
IACM 28 387 333
Tourism 28 333 000
Airport 59 888 88
ad
SPORTS
th Anniversary
體育
Rob Gloster
N
ASCAR
suspended
Kurt Busch indefinitely
following a Delaware judge’s
finding that he had “committed an act of domestic violence,” and Chevrolet responded
by suspending its relationship
with the driver.
The suspension announced Friday by Nascar means
Busch, 36, will be sidelined
for stock-car racing’s season-opening Daytona 500
on Sunday. “Given the serious nature of the findings
and conclusions made by the
commissioner of the family
court of the state of Delaware, Nascar has indefinitely
suspended driver Kurt Busch,
effective immediately,” the
organization said in its statement. “He will not be allowed
to race nor participate in any
Nascar activities until further
notice.”
Rusty Hardin, an attorney
for Busch, said in a statement
after a closed-door Nascar
hearing Saturday that the organization rejected Busch’s
appeal of the suspension.
ad
AP PHOTO
Nascar suspends Kurt Busch,
disqualifying him from Daytona
Kurt Busch stands on pit road
prior to qualifying for the Daytona
500 NASCAR Sprint Cup series
auto race
“We are re-appealing immediately, per the proscribed
process,” Hardin said in the
statement. “We have significant and strong evidence that
contradicts the commissioner’s conclusions.”
Less than an hour after Nascar announced its suspension, General Motors Co.’s
Chevrolet said in a statement
that it had suspended its
Busch was
Nascar’s
champion in
2004
sponsorship ties with Busch,
who was Nascar’s champion
in 2004.
“Chevrolet has suspended
its relationship with Kurt
Busch indefinitely,” Jim
Campbell, Chevrolet’s vice
president of motorsports and
performance vehicles, said
in a statement. “We will continue to monitor the events
surrounding Mr. Busch and
are prepared to take additional action if necessary.”
Hardin said the case involving Busch is a civil matter
and that no criminal charges
have been filed against the
driver.
“We ask everyone’s patience as this case continues in
the court of law and are confident that when the truth
is known, Mr. Busch will be
fully vindicated and back in
the driver’s seat,” Hardin
said in the interview.
Domestic violence has been
a concern elsewhere in professional sports, perhaps
most visibly in the National
Football League. Last year,
Baltimore Ravens running
back Ray Rice was suspended by the NFL indefinitely
after video surfaced of him
striking his fiancée in an elevator. Robert Mueller, a former U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation director, last
month released the result of
his four-month probe into
the NFL’s reaction to the incident, concluding the league
“should have done more with
the information it had.”
Other NFL players including
Indianapolis Colts linebacker
Josh McNary, who was charged with rape last month, and
the Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy faced
domestic violence investigations this season. Minnesota
Vikings running back Adrian
Peterson was indefinitely suspended following a no- contest plea to reckless assault after he was accused of abusing
his 4-year-old son. Bloomberg
Ethiopians seal
Tokyo Marathon
double
AP PHOTO
18
23.02.2015 mon
Runners start the race during the Tokyo Marathon
E
NDESHAW Negesse and Birhane Dibaba claimed a double win for Ethiopia at the
Tokyo Marathon yesterday amid tight security
in Japan’s capital. Negesse won the men’s race
in 2 hours and 6 minutes, followed by Stephen
Kiprotich of Uganda and Kenya’s Dickson
Chumba, who took top spot last year. In the
women’s event, Dibaba went one better than
her runner-up position in 2014.
About 36,000 runners took to Tokyo’s streets
for the first of the World Marathon Majors on a
rainy morning in temperatures about 6 degrees
Celsius. The other five majors are in Boston,
London, Berlin, Chicago and New York.
Organizers deployed more than 10,000 security officials, according to the Yomiuri newspaper.
Some 64 on-duty police officers ran as part of the
event’s surveillance, according to the paper.
The heightened security comes after bombings
at the Boston Marathon in 2013 and amid increased concern about terrorism in Japan following
the murder this year of two Japanese who had
been taken hostage by Islamic State. Bloomberg
mon 23.02.2015
th Anniversary
體育
It’s on: Mayweather says he
and Pacquiao to fight May 2
AP PHOTO
T
HE Fight is finally on.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
will meet Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in a
welterweight showdown that
will be boxing’s richest fight
ever. Mayweather himself announced the bout Friday after
months of negotiations, posting
a picture of the signed contract
online. “I promised the fans
we would get this done and we
did,” Mayweather said.
The long anticipated bout
at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will almost surely break
every financial record, and
make both boxers richer than
ever. Mayweather could earn
$120 million or more, while
Pacquiao’s split of the purse
will likely be around USD80
million.
The fight, which matches boxing’s two biggest attractions
of recent years, has been in the
making for five years. It finally
came together in recent months
with both fighters putting aside
past differences over various
issues — including drug testing
and television rights — to reach
agreement.
Pacquiao was sleeping in the
Philippines when the fight was
announced, but his camp issued
a statement saying the fans deserve the long awaited fight.
“It is an honor to be part of
this historic event,” Pacquiao
said. “I dedicate this fight to all
the fans who willed this fight to
happen and, as always, to bring
glory to the Philippines and
my fellow Filipinos around the
world.”
While the fight rivals the 2002
heavyweight title bout between
Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson
for interest, it comes more than
five years after the first real effort to put the fighters together
in their prime. Most boxing observers believe both have lost
some of their skills, though
Mayweather remains a master
defensive fighter and Pacquiao
showed in his last fight against
Chris Algieri that he still has
tremendous quickness in his
hands.
Still, Pacquiao is 36 and has
been through many wars in the
ring. And while Mayweather has
been largely untouched in his
LL sentiment aside,
Afghanistan’s
cricketers showed Sunday
why they belong at the
World Cup. The Afghanis, making their first
appearance at the tournament, came into the
event with plenty of pride
and strong support from
some 25,000 expatriates
who now call the co-host
countries of Australia and
New Zealand home — and
many others who want the
fledgling team to do well.
At
Dunedin,
New
Zealand, the side with
19
BOXING
Tim Dahlberg, Las vegas
A
SPORTS
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Manny Pacquiao
career, he turns 38 on Tuesday.
“I am the best ever, TBE, and
this fight will be another opportunity to showcase my skills and
do what I do best, which is win,”
Mayweather said in his announcement. “Manny is going to try
to do what 47 before him failed
to do, but he won’t be successful. He will be No. 48.”
Oddsmakers believe Mayweather will do just that, making
him a 2 1/2-1 favorite in the
scheduled 12-round bout. The
fight is expected to do record
business in Nevada’s legal sports books, with tens of millions
wagered on the outcome.
This boxing
match will have
the interest in
the U.S. of a
Super Bowl
BOB ARUM
It will also do record business at the box office — with
the MGM expected to be scaled
far higher than the $20 million
live gate for Mayweather’s 2013
fight with Canelo Alvarez. The
pay-per-view revenue also is
expected to be a record, though
television executives said Friday they had yet to actually fix a
price for people to buy the fight
at home.
The fight will be televised as
a joint venture between competing networks Showtime and
HBO, which will share announcers with Jim Lampley and Al
Bernstein reportedly handling
the task at ringside.
Pacquiao began pushing hard
for the fight after beating Algieri
in November in Macau, and negotiations picked up last month
when the two fighters met by
chance at a Miami Heat basketball game and later talked with
each other in Pacquiao’s hotel
room about making it happen.
“It’s one of those fortuitous
circumstance we couldn’t have
planned,” Showtime boxing
chief Stephen Espinoza said.
“But we were lucky that it happened.”
As part of the agreement,
Mayweather insisted on having
the right to announce the bout.
He also won concessions from
the Pacquiao camp on who enters the ring first, what type of
gloves are used, and a number
of other issues, including a reported 60-40 split of the purse.
But it didn’t take long for Pacquiao’s camp to start talking,
either. Promoter Bob Arum expressed his elation in making
the fight, while trainer Freddie
Roach predicted a big win for
his fighter.
“Floyd should enjoy being the
A-Side while he can because on
May 2 Manny is going to put
him on his backside,” Roach
said. Arum, who has promoted
some of the biggest fights in
history, said this one would be
bigger than them all.
“This boxing match will have
the interest in the U.S. of a Super Bowl,” Arum told The Associated Press. “I think it will
set all kinds of pay-per-view
records and gate records. It will
be the biggest boxing event of
all time.”
Both fighters will bring
147-pound titles into the ring,
but the fight is about far more
than belts. Mayweather, who
is unbeaten in 47 fights, wants
to stake his claim as one of the
greatest fighters ever, and remove any doubts about his legacy by fighting the boxer who
is thought to be the greatest
challenge of his career.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, will try
to show that a knockout loss to
Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012
and a disputed decision loss to
Timothy Bradley should not
define a remarkable career that
began 20 years ago in the Philippines
Don’t tune in looking for a big
knockout, either. The last time
Pacquiao stopped anyone was
in 2009 when he finished off
Miguel Cotto in the 12th round, while Mayweather has only
stopped one fighter (Victor Ortiz) in the last eight years. AP
Afghanistan does itself proud
at the Cricket World Cup
some players who first
took up the game in Pakistan refugee camps while
escaping their neighboring war-torn country
pushed higher-ranked Sri
Lanka to the limit before
losing by four wickets.
Sri Lanka was in trouble when Afghanistan’s
bowlers took early wicke-
ts, but the more established side prevailed, scoring the winning runs with
only 10 balls remaining.
Asghar Stanikzai led Afghanistan with 54 of its
232 runs, while Mahela
Jayawardene scored 100
runs to push Sri Lanka to
236-6 and victory.
It was Afghanistan’s se-
cond loss in a row in the
tournament while Sri
Lanka evened its record
at 1-1.
“We started very well for
the first 30 overs but after
that we didn’t play well,”
said Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi,
one of those who spent
time in a refugee camp
in Peshawar, Pakistan.
“It was a tough and tight
game and the boys played
very well.”
Jayawardene said “all
credit to Afghanistan,
they batted very well in
tough conditions and
then bowled beautifully ...
and put us under a lot of
pressure.”
At the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the other
match Sunday, India
captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni won the toss and
his side went on to score
307-7 against South Africa, with opener Shikhar
Dhawan leading India
with 137 ahead of the Proteas’ reply.
In the only match today,
any realistic chance England has of making the
quarterfinals will be on
the line when it takes on
Scotland at Christchurch,
New Zealand. AP
Rebels deny attack on Red
BUZZ Cross-protected refugees
Air quality
Station
23.02.2015
mon
THE
Severo Portela
There is always room for one
more
The theory in use must be the one about
the hypothetical ever-accommodating can
of sardines: you squeeze a little and there you go… one more added to the dead
school. One wonders how far the overcrowding has to go before “I cannot bear
this any longer” goes from an individual or
occasional outburst to a collective rage.
Each year since the gaming business
entered the fast lane visitors have broken
record after record; each year local residents lose some vital space to punters and
tourists, and today as gambling revenues
spiral downward the City is full of fearless
shoppers buying everything coming their
way. Zhuhai customs authority estimates
that there will be over 2.2 million people
crossing the border, or around five per cent
more than one year ago.
So…what to expect from the second wave
of big properties on the Cotai Strip? The
truth is nobody knows for sure, since local
authorities through to common observers
have all proven unable to produce reliable
forecasts. So much so that the filter seems
to rely on how the Chinese officials appraise the inwards demand and outwards supply.
In the neighboring SAR of Hong Kong,
there have been ugly developments toward
mainland visitors. The influx of outsiders,
whether shoppers or not, in the already crowded main tourist and commercial
spots, gave rise to episodes of bad blood,
bad words, sometimes physical, and overall hostility in general, bordering upon xenophobia.
On this side of the Pearl River Delta, the
obvious inconvenience brought by the invasion of visitors to the tight streets of old
Macau seems to have shifted more to the
weight of the cash register’s closing balance. This is a trend… but no one knows
at which point the money-making is an
illusion. Conservative Legislator Ho Ion
Sang not only alerts us to the cumulative resentment among local residents, but
also accommodates an unusually positive
example from Hong Kong in his line of reasoning. The HKSAR pleads for a tighter
filter on its borders, but bases its request,
we would say, on an objective evaluation
of accommodation and visitor carrying capacity.
In order to dissipate the flow of visitors as
much as possible, the MGTO wisely added
four more walking routes to the existing four
parcours, complemented with a package of
measures to offer options to the hordes of
tourists/visitors/shoppers other than San
Ma Lo. Given the unpredictability of local
mood in an environment of an ever increasing number of visitors travelling from the
mainland who share with us the same small
and beautiful enclave over this brief holiday
period, Chief Executive admitted he is kind
of worried, but attentive to the situation.
Actually, the Chief Executive has been
following, mainly through his team of new
Secretaries, a line of truth and dares to
assume today’s problems, disregarding
yesterday shortcomings; this way, building
momentum in the warm-up to the presentation of his 2015 Policy Address in the Legislative Assembly on March 23. From then,
Chui Sai On’s second term will be politically
wired.
Ferris wheel, zip line, inlet
eateries OK’d in Atlantic City
Wayne Parry, Atlantic City
T
HE city, making good
on its vow to seek new
non-gambling
attractions,
has approved redevelopment
plans including a giant Ferris wheel and a zip line on
the beachfront next to the
Steel Pier and restaurants,
a rebuilt Boardwalk and an
elevated walkway in its Inlet
neighborhood.
The plans come as Atlantic
City has lost four of its 12 casinos and is trying to make its
tourism-centered economy
less dependent on gambling.
The City Council last week
approved an expansion of
the iconic Steel Pier to make
way for an already-approved
62-meter-tall
observation
wheel with enclosed, climatecontrolled cars and a zip line
ride. It also approved a redevelopment plan for the Northeast Inlet neighborhood
including new eateries, entertainment and recreational
People walking on the boardwalk
in Atlantic City
facilities, a rebuilt Boardwalk
and an elevated walkway to
bring new business to the
area.
“It’s a reinforcement of the
importance of adding these
other amenities,” said John
Palmieri, executive director of
the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
The agency has already
approved the Ferris wheel
project and will be contributing about USD8.1 million
of its estimated $14 million
price tag through a loan to be
repaid from a portion of ride
ticket revenue.
“It’s a good step forward in
the ongoing effort to reinforce
those non-gambling sectors,”
Palmieri said.
It’s also something Atlantic
City has been talking about
since 2007, the first year its
casino gambling revenues
posted a yearly decline due to
the opening of casinos in neighboring Pennsylvania that
ate into its customer base.
Those revenues have plunged
from $5.2 billion in 2006 to
$2.74 billion last year as casinos continued to open in
Pennsylvania, New York and
Maryland. Of the eight Atlantic City casinos that survived
2014’s slew of closings, three
are in bankruptcy.
The wheel and its 40 cars are
being built in Italy and should
be delivered to Atlantic City
by December. The start of an
expansion of the Boardwalk
to support the wheel and the
zip line ride could begin within two months, Catanoso
said. AP
SOURCE: DSMG
High
Density
45-65
Residental Moderate
Area
Ambient
WORLD BRIEFS
NIGERIAN troops retake
a major border town and
kill scores of Boko Haram
fighters, Nigeria’s military
says, although witnesses
also report that the Islamic
extremists killed scores in
attacks on other villages.
ZIMBABWE’s President
Robert Mugabe turns 91
with his supporters saying
they will back him to run
his full term until 2018 and
beyond, despite nagging
questions about his health
and an economy that is
crumbling under his watch.
USA Activists, actors
and politicians gathered
Saturday in New York City
to honor civil rights leader
Malcolm X with a ceremony
at the Harlem site where
he was killed 50 years
ago. About 300 people
converged to hear remarks
from one of Malcolm X’s
six daughters, Ilyasah
Shabazz, as well as elected
officials.
Alonso taken to hospital
after crash at Barcelona
F
ERNANDO Alonso has been taken to
hospital by helicopter after crashing in his
McLaren during Formula One preseason testing yesterday.
McLaren said on Twitter: “Fernando is conscious and is speaking. He has been airlifted to
hospital for further checks.”
Track officials at the Barcelona-Catalunya
circuit said Alonso went off at turn three and
hit the wall. They said he was transported to
hospital “to continue with medical tests” after
being treated at the circuit medical center.
McLaren has been plagued by technical
problems this preseason after switching to
Honda engines ahead of the upcoming season.
Neither the team nor track officials have reported the cause of the crash.
Alonso, 33, rejoined McLaren this season
after a disappointing fifth and final campaign
with Ferrari. He won back-to-back world titles
with Renault in 2005 and 2006 before spending one season at McLaren in 2007.
Ferrari tweeted “All the best Fernando.” AP
THE
DECISIVE MOMENT
Carmo Correia/Lusa
30-50
Moderate
AP PHOTO
Rear Window
The state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported that the rebels used heavy weapons to attack a
truck carrying 15 refugees, wounding five people, including a TV cameraman from state-run Myanma
Radio and Television. The two sides traded similar
accusations about an attack Tuesday on a seven-car
Myanmar Red Cross convoy carrying 100 people
that wounded a driver and a Red Cross volunteer.
35-55
Moderate
AP PHOTO
opinion
Kokang ethnic rebels battling Myanmar’s government in the country’s north have denied a claim that
they attacked a truck flying the Red Cross flag that
was carrying refugees fleeing fighting in the area.
Kokang spokesman Htun Myat Lin says the report
by state media of Saturday’s attack was untrue, and
that his group did not even have forces in the area of
the alleged ambush.
BLOOMBERG
20
th Anniversary
Roadside
USA Two unfinished
sketches have been
discovered on the reverse
side of two watercolors by
Cezanne — and officials
at Philadelphia’s Barnes
Foundation museum says
the collector who bought
them more than 90 years
ago probably never knew
they were there.
USA-IRAN With only
weeks left to the deadline
to reach a first-stage
nuclear deal with Iran,
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry said Saturday
that “significant gaps”
remained and warned
that America was ready to
walk away from the talks
if Tehran doesn’t agree to
terms demonstrating that it
doesn’t want atomic arms.
The Procession of the Passion of Our God, the Lord Jesus, was held yesterday in downtown Macau.
According to the MGTO, the parade constitutes “a unique Macau religious celebration when an image of
Christ carrying the Cross is taken in solemn procession from St. Augustine’s Church to the Cathedral for
an overnight vigil.”
UK British police are
appealing for information
about three teenage girls
who left the country in a
suspected bid to travel to
Syria to join the Islamic
State extremist group.